business tips Archives - Page 2 of 5

Succeed with Your Powers of Persuasion

April 21, 2020

Persuasion is a skill you need every day, whether you’re negotiating a big business deal or telling your children to eat their vegetables. Try these techniques for influencing people of any age in any situation: Speak their language. Listen to how people express themselves, particularly when it comes to sensory words. Some people will see things (“I don’t see what you mean”), others will hear (“That doesn’t sound like fun”), and others will feel (“I don’t feel good about that.”) Use their preferred mode of expression back to them (“I see your point … I hear what you’re saying …
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Out Of This World Customer Service When Managing Stressed Customers

April 14, 2020

Smart executives who look forward to a long and happy life for their companies know two things about customer service: 100% of your customers won’t be 100% happy with you all the time. Interactions with stressed customers are critical to the strength of a business. A company’s reputation for poor customer service spreads quickly, especially in a time when social media has such a powerful effect on shaping public opinion. Even before the days of social media, the rule of 10 applied. A bad night’s sleep and a cranky morning that results in a negative interaction with a customer spreads to the next 10
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Improve Your Self-Discipline

January 28, 2020

Success in any endeavor is a matter of self-discipline. If you can’t stay focused on your goals, you’ll never achieve them. The Ladders website shares this list of tips for improving your self-discipline: Start on Monday. Begin working on your goals on the first day on the week. Researchers say this can help you follow through. Write down the reasons behind your goals. Positive affirmations can solidify your goals in your mind and help you stay focused. Visualize the benefits. Think about what you’ll gain as you work toward your goals and eventually achieve them. They’ll become more real in
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The Importance of a Positive Attitude in Business

January 6, 2020

Life throws unexpected, disruptive and surprising incidents our way and the way of dealing with such curve balls makes all the difference in the world. This is particularly true when you are building your small business. The business journey can be so challenging and difficult and at times it can make you very agitated and frustrated. For you to be successful, you need to not focus on the negatives but instead, focus all your efforts into pushing the business forward. The important steps that you can take towards achievement of your greatest potential in business are learning how to
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Ask the Right Questions to Find the Right Employees

November 12, 2019

Hiring people may seem like a gamble, but you can increase your chances of hitting the jackpot by getting to know candidates as thoroughly as possible during the recruitment process. Here are some probing questions to ask: “Tell me about your best and worst boss.” The answer should give you some insight into how well the candidate deals with authority, rules, and conflict. “Where do you see yourself in one year?” Five- or 10-year goals tend to be vague and theoretical. A look one year into the future can tell you how the employee realistically views his or her prospects
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Listen for Clues to Promotion

October 29, 2019

Some employees who are ready for promotion may be easy to spot, but others aren’t always so obvious. If you think you may be overlooking some talent that can be developed, look for these clues that a worker is ready for a promotion: Free time. If an employee has finished all his or her regularly assigned work and has nothing to do, it could be a sign that he or she is ready for more responsibility. Fast response time. Keep track of how quickly the employee finishes assignments and short-notice tasks. If he or she is getting faster, a promotion
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Creating A Positive Attitude

October 15, 2019

Winston Churchill once said, “Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.” You could actually take this statement one step further and say “Attitude is the little thing that makes all the difference”. Think about your last setback or your last bad day. Did it seem like everything went wrong all day? How did your attitude change over the day? Chances are that once you perceived that something went wrong, you started seeing everything going wrong, and saw only the bad things. You have also probably had at least one or two “perfect” days, where absolutely nothing could
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3 Reasons to Answer Phone Calls with a Script

September 17, 2019

How your employees answer the phone says a lot about your company. Establish standard conventions so no one says too much or too little about your company. This keeps communications quick, positive, and well-organized, especially if you have new employees or multiple offices. Here are three elements you should focus on. 1. Standardize your company’s external tone. When someone reaches out to your company by phone, you need to ensure that they’re treated professionally. While your employees know how to be cordial, especially if you hired them for customer-facing positions, sometimes that pleasant tone can slip. Stress, frustration, and even
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There Are Two Types of Clients

June 4, 2019

Every business has two types of clients: Internal and external. External clients are the ones who purchase our products and services. As business owners, we place a huge emphasis on providing excellent customer service to keep those clients happy and to keep them coming back. We can’t forget, though, the importance of providing excellent service to our internal clients as well. Who are our internal clients? These are the individuals who play an important role in keeping your business running smoothly. If you are an accountant, your internal clients are those who you need to do your job. Consider the
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Ongoing Training Is A Must

May 28, 2019

Ongoing Training Is A Must. You can’t just provide first-day training to team members and leave it at that. To successfully deliver excellent customer service, you must be consistent and persistent and provide ongoing training. This doesn’t require huge time commitments. After all, education experts say short and frequent messages have more lasting results and are more effective that longer and less frequent training lessons. Short inspirational messages, weekly tips, short educational videos and employee newsletters are all ways you can provide ongoing training in small doses. For more information, please go to www.getoffthewheel.com
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